Our objective is to promote international cooperation among scientists, engineers and other professionals in the broad field of earthquake engineering through interchange of knowledge, ideas, results of research and practical experience.
Announcement of the Joseph Penzien Memorial Fund
A fellowship fund has been established in the name of Joseph Penzien to fund and support graduate engineering students enrolled in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Preference will be given to students who have demonstrated financial need and have chosen the field of structural engineering and structural mechanics. The goal is to raise $500,000 to qualify for a named graduate fellowship.
To make a contribution, please send cash/checks to Enid C. Pollack, Sr. Development Director at UC Berkeley College of Engineering, 210 McLaughlin Hall, College of Engineering, Berkeley, CA 94720-1722. Please make checks payable to UC Berkeley College of Engineering and include check memo: Joseph Penzien Memorial Fund. Ms. Pollack can be contacted by phone at 510-642-2257 or by email at epollack@berkeley.edu.
Obituary for Professor Giuseppe Grandori (1921 - 2011)
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Prof. Grandori
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On November 2, 2011, Professor Giuseppe Grandori passed away, after resisting for two months the attacks of a severe respiratory illness. Emeritus at Politecnico di Milano, where he had kept a chair of Structural Mechanics (Scienza delle Costruzioni) from 1962 to 1991, he left in countless former students, and in many younger colleagues, indelible memories as an educator, a civil engineer and a researcher. Professor Grandori had served as IAEE President from 1988 to 1992, as Vice President from 1969 to 1973, and as Director from 1973 to 1980 and 1984 to 1988. He had also been a key scientific organizer of the Rome WCEE in 1973.
Professor Grandori had played the leader's role in introducing modern Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology in Italy beginning in the early 1960ies, when he also established at Politecnico di Milano an International Centre in those disciplines, which attracted young engineers and researchers from many countries. With his research, he was among the first worldwide to provide convincing demonstrations that the judicious use of probability theory and risk analysis tools can be vital for the progress of Earthquake Engineering at large. Thus, he made important contributions to topics such as the choice of acceptable seismic risk and the reliability of seismic hazard models, published in the most authoritative journals of our trade. The circumstance that he had published his most recent scientific paper as recently as 2010 is witness to the vitality of his mind.
Professor Grandori was a man of deep and warm humanity, which had won him lasting relationships from many parts of the world: his death leaves a feeling of great loss in those of us who had the privilege of being his friends. We convey to his wife, Professor Elisa Guagenti Grandori, and to his daughters our most heartfelt condolences.
An M7.2 Earthquake Hits the Province of Van, Turkey
on
October 23, 2011 at 10.41 UTC
The major earthquake centered at 38.6 deg N, 43.5 deg E caused severe building damages in Van (population 400,000), the provincial capital, as well as at several other administrative districts in the region. Among urban centers affected by the ground shaking is the city of Ercis, population 70,000, situated on the northern shores of the eponymous lake. More than five hundred people seem to have been killed by the earthquake, with the number of the injured running into about 1,600. The authorities warn that casualty numbers may climb still as rubble from collapsed buildings becomes cleared. The same region had last been shaken by a strong earthquake in 1976 (Ms7.5) that had caused far more fatalities and dwelling damages. The entire region is situated in the transition area between the Arabian and the Eurasian plates, and is marked by dormant volcanoes. The province is located in the highest seismic hazard segment of the Turkish Earthquake zones Map.
This earthquake has once again underscored the importance of making available to all practices of engineering the simple and implementable good construction principles. The city has experienced a rapid population increase during the past few decades, leading in some cases to unsupervised building construction. As in other parts of the world such low-quality building stocks aggravate losses. This has been confirmed by the initial reports from the scene.
The International Association for Earthquake Engineering, on behalf of the global community of engineers and scientists that it represents, expresses condolences to the people of Turkey and families in the region who have lost their loved ones. The Association has the objective of reducing the global seismic risk through an array of means, including the exchange of knowledge and information.
Obituary for Professor Penzien
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Prof. Penzien
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We have the sad duty of announcing the passing of Joseph Penzien on September 19, 2011. With him we have lost a long-time colleague, friend, researcher, educator and legendary name in earthquake engineering. Few people in our trade have not heard of his name that shows up in countless archival publications since the 1950s. Joe was Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley between 1953-1988, and pursued a fruitful career as principal of the consulting enginering firm that he founded. Professor Penzien had served as IAEE Vice President during 1980-1984, and as Director during 1984-1992.
Joe Penzien's lifelong achievements are too numerous to summarize in this brief notice. A detailed account of his career as he himself described is available at the EERI Oral History website: http://www.eeri.org/site/images/projects/oralhistory/penzien.pdf. Admired by students whom he mentored for his brilliance, well-liked for his gregarious friendliness by all those who came into contact with him and respected for his enginering acumen by his peers, Joe Penzien truly stood out as a pioneer for earthquake engineering. We convey to his family our condolences and good wishes. He will be remembered warmly and missed by many.
STATEMENT BY OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF IAEE ON
THE CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND (FEBRUARY 22, 2011) AND
OFF-TOHOKU, JAPAN (MARCH 11, 2011) EARTHQUAKES
During the last several weeks the world has witnessed through vivid images provided by the global news media the terrible human loss and material destruction that these two recent earthquakes have caused. The International Association for Earthquake Engineering, representing the global community of earthquake scientists and practitioners in the world, expresses its deep sorrow for the unparalleled scale of loss of lives that New Zealand and Japan have suffered. [more]
Additional online resources for Christchurch, New Zealand and Tohoku, Japan Earthquakes
[download IAEE statement]
President's Address
Colleagues, members and friends of IAEE,
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DR. POLAT GÜLKAN
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I have taken over the duty of serving as the IAEE President during the mid-term meeting of the Executive Committee in Toronto, Canada, on July 27, 2010. It is a humbling experience for me to look down the list of names of my predecessors, and other engineers and scientists who have served on the IAEE Executive Committee. Honorary Members of the Association draw the same sense of respect. The Association owes much gratitude to these men and women for the voluntary service they have given and the status they helped it to attain.
With barely 50 years behind us we can take pride in the enormous surge of accumulated knowledge earthquake engineering has created and brought forward for making our stated objective a reality: the virtual elimination of the seismic risk through interchange of knowledge, ideas, research results put into implementable form and sharing of practical experience. If we permit a moment of collective hubris to escape us, we can claim that, for the first time in history, we have the knowledge, the technology and even the wealth to design a different world. And yet, earthquakes continue to batter countries and their economies. This year alone, the world has witnessed 8 major earthquakes, two of which have caused far-reaching consequences for Haiti and Chile. While there is perhaps reason to be encouraged by our observations in Chile, the experience in Haiti is truly depressing. It shows that an enormous part of our task still lies unresolved before us. [more]
Online searchable World Conference Proceedings
All of the papers in the World Conference on Earthquake Engineering Proceedings from the first WCEE in 1956 to present have been digitized by the National Centre of Earthquake Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur
Papers from all of the World Conferences can be accessed at:
http://www.nicee.org/wcee/
 Announcement of the Satoru Ohya Medal
The World Seismic Safety Initiative (WSSI) is pleased to announce creation of the Satoru Ohya Medal established in memory of Mr. Satoru Ohya. Mr. Ohya was a world leader in the field of seismic instrumentation and devoted his life to reducing the risks associated with earthquakes and other natural disasters, especially in the most vulnerable communities in developing countries of the world. He was the President and Chairman of the Board of OYO Corporation and served as President of the Geological Society of Japan and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists of Japan. He was heavily involved in the activities of WSSI and served on its Board of Directors. [more]
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Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics
Edited by: Anil K. Chopra, Peter Fajfar, Masayoshi Nakashima
Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics leads the way in the field of earthquake engineering, publishing high quality research which is well cited as well as being endorsed by the International Association for Earthquake Engineering. For more information and to receive the latest (real time) updates, please visit John Wiley & Sons Publishing. |
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